Chapters
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Lyra was somewhere warm. She had a cloak now, wrapped tight around her bare skin. The mud was mercifully gone, scrubbed raw in freezing water. Strange perfume seasoned her skin, though she couldn't say exactly where it had come from.At least they hadn't left her out in the open. Tucked inside one of the oversized pavilions, she no longer felt quite so overwhelmed. Whatever she had seen outside, at least in here the world made sense.They let her keep her magical tool. She still had the little obsidian…-
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Chaos overflowed around her. The air filled with dust, and the harsh echo of gunfire. As a human being, she'd been trained to deal with situations like this. But all that training and practice couldn’t help her as a cat—she could only press herself to the ground, cowering in terror. What was going on? Why was everything so loud? What was that awful smell of burning?“Child. Open your eyes. Look at me.”His voice might not have pierced the awful noise if it came as word alone. But Capper's speech cut…
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Capper always kept his promises. That included Lyra’s first uninterrupted chance to practice with the magic of true transformation. With his careful guidance, prodding her away from caving to the instincts of her form, Lyra kept from getting into too much trouble.Her trip across Ponyville was not quick exactly. Her companion was still a cat, and cats were not terribly interested in running when there were more dignified ways to get around. But from a foot off the ground, there was no chance of being…
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Lyra paced nervously back and forth in her bedroom. She'd circled the ground there so many times that a thin layer had worked its way into the wood. Every few seconds she stopped, took out her phone, then stuck it back without sending anything.Her old self would never have hesitated to send a message instantly, but she was wiser now. The Free Council was clear in their rules—magical affairs could never be sent using unprotected methods. There were too many ways to overhear, too many listening ears who…
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Lyra stepped off the bus a few blocks from her apartment. The shelter of sunlight was long gone, along with the armor it might've offered against the Kindred. Their dark influence might be gathering in any shadow.Not long ago, Lyra would've insisted on waiting for a direct ride home, rather than venture unprotected after dark. Even Bonnie's strange weapon couldn't make her feel safe enough. But since Awakening, she saw the world differently. No common vampire would ever sneak up on her again. If anyone…
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Time got a little confusing when you weren't something with a clear conception of time. Lyra was somewhere else—somewhere with lots of interesting new smells and places to explore. She wandered around for a while. A few times people came her way. They were familiar enough that she didn't want to run, but rarely novel enough that she stayed near them for very long.Long enough for them to talk about some things, or others. But none of them were as interesting as all the exciting corners of her new place.…
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“Slowly, Lyra. The last place you want to invite paradox is with your own pattern. Take as much time as you need.”Her familiar spoke so gently now that his words were not even vocalized. She heard them just the same, through the gradually-strengthening mental link the two of them had built over the last few weeks. Strong enough to hear everything he wanted to say, but also weak enough to dislodge him when he got too nosy or annoying.Lyra rested in meditative repose in the center of the Free Council's…
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Lyra stumbled into the bedroom, delirious with exhaustion and pain. She reached the bed, wobbling from the effort. Finally the effects of her night were catching up with her. The last time she had felt this weak, it was while she went cold-turkey from a substance much worse than the worst mortal drug. But none of that mattered, not when she saw Bonnie's eyes open. “What happened? I thought... thought I was dead.” She held her right arm against her left, where the tourniquet had been. A faint impression…
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Lyra hesitated at the threshold, balling one hand into a fist. Her other reached into her purse, wrapping tight around the barrel of her borrowed gun. No ammo left. It used up its only tank. She released it just as quickly, eyeing the cat beside her. “Is it...”“No one else is there,” the cat whispered, though maybe that was just her imagination. Could a cat even whisper? “You should be able to feel that. Open up your eyes and feel the pulse of the living world, Lyra. The heartbeat... it sounds…
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Lyra spent the next several hours in a waking delirium. She moved through strange places, speaking strange words to strange people. She learned some things—though not as many as she would’ve liked. After having her world transformed so completely in one night, only a few details really stuck with her.There were more mages in Canterlot—a few hundred of them at most, based on the small scale of their hidden headquarters. The dean of the city’s humble community college was also somehow their powerful…
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